ghodges

Hope to possibly make it next year (and visit my daughter in London!). Gil

Wow! That wing assembly really looked daunting! Glad to see the instructions helped instead of hindering. I also agree about radiator faces..... some sort of scribing or screening needs to be present if it's visible to any extent. Nice progress! Gil

Welcome Mark! Glad to have you here, and as you describe yourself you sound like the typical "IPMS Joe"! Looking forward to seeing your work. Please let us know if and how we may be of any help in making this hobby more FUN for you! Also, you may want to check the IPMSUSA home site to see if there's a local chapter near you. Being able to meet and greet personally with others like yourself is even better than here on line. Dive in and make yourself at home! Glad to have you here with us! Gil

Thanks Jim! Great info! Gil

Not to highjack the thread, but JIM, what did you use for your gloss coat? Having a tough time getting mine as shiny as yours whatever I use. Thanks! Gil

First of all, FUTURE, as a brand, was discontinued many years ago. It was bought out and changed names. Essentially, it was a clear acrylic floor wax that people found could be airbrushed or brushed on to provide a clear gloss coat. Thus, what you should be looking for is a clear acrylic floor wax where you shop. That said, you may find several different brands available. I believe the people who bought out Future put it back out under the PLEDGE label (Pledge with Future shine). I'd look at those products first, and if you can find that WITH the "All Purpose" label; THAT is supposed to be the original formula that Future used. They do have other more specialized floor shine products, but I can't vouch for those. You'll see others brands such as "Mop and Glo", etc.; but I'd avoid buying anything that is milky looking in the bottle. If it's as clear as water in the bottle, it may be useful, but it's also not a direct descendant of Future. If all else fails, there are several hobby brand clear acrylic glosses available, and you may want to stick with those. The big advantage to Future back in the day was being able to get a LOT of gloss for much less money than you'd pay for a hobby brand. If your budget is tight, go hunting the Pledge stuff. If not, you may want to play it safe and pay a few extra dollars for something formulated FOR our hobby. Hope this helps! Gil

Love those markings too....just something about checks on a tail or a nose! Very nice presentation also. Thanks for posting and sharing! Gil

Absolutely lovely, and it really captures the era with the brown deck and the pilot! Thanks for sharing the build! Gil

Very nice! I also like that scheme and the way the red spinner and cowl flaps balance nicely with the wing walks and tail code. Congrats, and thanks for letting us ride along! Gil

Very nice Viper(s)! Where did you get the Flory washes? I've been meaning to get some and try it. Congrats, and thanks for sharing! Gil

Cool! That would make a pretty unique diorama! Gil

That's one very eye-catching Viper! Congrats, and thanks for sharing! Gil

Having just finished a project that was 2 steps forward and then one back, I can relate! Nice recovery! Gil

Yeah.... but it's starting to look cool, so it's worth it! Gil

I built this model with 3 purposes.... the first was to have a B-29 in my collection; the second was to christen my new display case I finished recently, and the third was as "practice" because I plan to cut one up to make a B-50 using a resin conversion set I have. I put the full interior into it as part of this process, just to see what can be seen in the end and what can be skipped in the future. This was a project that took longer than expected, considering it's OOTB for the most part. It was a case of 2 steps forward and then one back; especially when painting time arrived. The fault was entirely mine. I sanded and polished the canopy and nose glass, using some of the Novus polishing compounds. I failed to remove all of the residue and had repeated problems with the paint around the canopy and nose as a result. Repeated filling and sanding finally overcame things. The only correction I tried to make to the kit was the exhausts. Monogram gives you one large piece for the exhaust when it should actually have two, one larger for the engine and one smaller for the supercharger on each side of each nacelle. I drilled and shaped new holes and used plastic tubing to replicate them. I also added clear plastic wing tip lights. Another mod was I sawed the cowl flaps apart so I could flare them to a more open position. This not only looked better, it helped the cowlings fit the nacelles easier. I chose to do a black bottomed Korean War B-29. I've always like that scheme, and by painting the entire model black, it also served as the base coat for the Alclad and AK Metallics paints used on the top. I used the Alclad gloss black primer for the black. Alclad had some bad batches of this product that doesn't dry properly, but my bottle worked perfectly, drying hard in 24hrs. I used various metallic colors to get the varying panel tones and the anodized wing spar center section. Since I'd lost so many raised panel lines in sanding, I decided to go retro and "ghost" panel lines on the top. This also served to give it the more weathered look of a Korean War B-29 years older than its WWII counterparts. Enough of the in-progress stuff...on to the finished model! Comments, critiques, and questions welcome! Gil

That is just gorgeous! Your the second person I've heard complain about the engine assembly.... Considering they give you the entire accessory section behind it but don't use it to help place the engine more securely in the cowl is indeed baffling! In any case, your skills don't belie having a single problem. Congrats, and thanks for sharing! Gil

Taking shape nicely! Gil

Hmmmm.... can't say I've seen any colored extruded plastic rod. Why are you looking for black in particular? Perhaps if you tell us what you plan to do, we might offer an alternative. The most obvious beginning alternative is to make your own. Find some black kit sprue (old Monogram kits are good for that) and stretch it down to the size you need. It'll take some practice to not stretch it overly thin and get a length with consistent diameter.... but that in itself is a useful skill to sharpen! Gil

Cool airplane! Looking forward to more! Gil

All kind of pics on FaceBook the last few days.... here's a link to our First Coast FB page. If you scroll down you'll see pics of the built model at the hobby show, and also some pics of some of the test shot sprues. https://www.facebook.com/groups/206370100499516 Hope this helps! GIL

Looking good! You might double check your references,.....IF you're wanting to do a Saratoga plane, the tail should be white. Yellow was assigned to the Lexington, and specifically, this would be VF-2, not VF-3. Gil

Yeah.... I was just thinking that first time attendees are generally going to be a bit more enthusiastic in their responses for the most part, be more likely to not attend the banquet or seminars (and thus have no input to those questions), might have issues with registration just because of their inexperience, and do nothing but rave about the vendors. On the other hand, jaded old attendees like myself could tend to be more critical of things on the whole simply because ANY problem anywhere will be more likely to be noticed. Looks like the poll, as conducted gives a good overview of the Omaha Nats. While it would be nice to have more detailed analysis, Ron is right in that our members have a low tolerance for participation in such things. Gil

Is there any way to get a further breakdown in responses, such as the answer percentages for those who were first time attendees, versus the same answers for those who've attended 5-10 Nats, versus those who've attended 20 or more Nats? That might be a bit more perceptive than the percentages on the whole... Gil

I have several of the old MicroScale and Scale Master stripe sets. I just want to give a cautionary note on them.... My sheets are pretty old and those stripes tend to be fragile and break easily. SO, if you can buy sheets that are "newer" from the manufacturer, go for it. But I'd advise against buying from someone's private stock or even from a vendor. You can put a coating over them to keep them from breaking, but then you lose a lot of their flexibility making them much harder to apply, especially around tight tubular things like missiles. I've also used the Woodland Scenic dry transfer stripes and they work well EXCEPT for trying to bend and burnish them over round/tubular shapes. They might work if they were applied and sealed onto a clear decal sheet, and then cut out and applied to the model/object. Hope this helps! Gil

If I make it, I can drum....I have 30+yrs playing in classic rock bands, playing 60s-90s stuff. I can even sing a little, especially back up, and lead if it's in my range. Gil